


Marked

by Merry_rf



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky Barnes Recovering, Drabble, Gen, Headcanon, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Standard Winter Soldier Warnings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 04:50:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14229645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merry_rf/pseuds/Merry_rf
Summary: Bucky and Steve, before Bucky gets his new arm.





	Marked

**Author's Note:**

> Mentions of medical procedures.

_Wakanda Medical Center_

“You have scars.”

Bucky looked up at Steve. He hadn’t heard Steve enter the procedure room. Steve looked at Bucky’s shoulder, plates mostly removed, wires bared. But Bucky knew it was where the metal met skin that Steve was talking about.

“Yeah.”

“But your appendix scar has gone.”

He’d had his appendix out when he was fourteen, leaving a relatively tidy scar on his stomach. Since then, he’d been shot, stabbed, burned, gained a multitude of injuries as the Winter Soldier. Despite all that, his stomach appeared smooth. Unblemished skin over hard muscle.

Except for his shoulder.

Scars radiated out from the seam of metal and skin. The glimpses he’d had of what was under the metal were not pretty. Red, swollen, hot tissue lurked beneath the shining plates. Another gift from HYDRA.

“The serum did that, got rid of the scars I had before. Same as you.”

Steve had considerably more scars than Bucky before his serum. Knuckles, knees, his own appendectomy scar, below his lip when he’d bitten through it in a fight, a scratch in his hairline from a bottle in yet another fight… all gone as far as Bucky had seen.

“So why have you got those?”

Surely Steve had figured it out. Or he just wanted to hear it from Bucky.

“Because it doesn’t fully heal. The doctors think the implant places so much strain on my shoulder that it’s simultaneously damaging and healing at the same time. So the scars never go away.”

“So all this time, you’ve been in constant pain.”

Bucky shrugged. With his right shoulder. “It’s better since Stark blew it off.” Steve had his thundercloud look on.

“Will the new arm be better?”

“They hope it will. If they can replace it, they’ll clean out as much as they can. Not sure what they can do without removing more of my shoulder though.”

“You don’t have to—”

“Not much good as a soldier with only one arm Steve.”

Steve sighed. Bucky knew what his problem was. Another Bucky-problem that Steve couldn’t fix, and all because he’d fallen off that damn train. Steve’s guilt could fill oceans.

“It is what it is. And the Wakandans will make it better, not worse.” He looked Steve in the eye. “I’ve forgiven you. One day you have to forgive yourself too.”

**Author's Note:**

> The pictures/thoughts that inspired this fic can be found on my [tumblr.](https://merryrf.tumblr.com/post/172651881017/buckys-shoulder-scars-headcannon)


End file.
